FReeper Canteen ~ Technology Tuesday ~ 04 Oct 2005

Canteen Computer Resource Center
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Tables of Contents
I. Ask The Experts
-Ask GummyIII and El Gran Salseron a question and they'll answer it. MoJo may from time to time answer questions, but she's in no way an expert.

II. Cool Stuff
-Providing you cool and informative information that may or may not prove useful. If it doesn't prove useful, please FReepmail the Canteen CEO with any problems. His name is 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub. Thank you!

III. Gummy's Informative Software Table
-GummyIII brings you really cool and interesting software programs that you'll want to browse.

II. Ask The Experts

Providing answers to questions you've always wanted to know about. GummyIII's answers are in red while El Gran's answers are in blue. If you have any questions you'd like them to answer, please FReepmail MoJo2001 with any questions. Thank you!!

Question 1: Can you explain what a thumb drive is and what it is used for?
Also, would you recommend buying one?

These are sometimes calld Flash drives, Jump drives, Pocket drives, Pen drives, or USB drives. I'll call them generically USB drives for now.

They are a great digital storage solution. All USB drives pretty much operate the same way. USB drives are as light as a car key and as easy to carry. I have one that is actually an ink pen, also, and looks like one.

They come in sizes from 32 MB to 4 GB or more. The neatest thing about them is they can be used on any computer's USB port, and allow one to keep files, pictures, and more with them at all times. They can last up to 10 years with care. I highly recommend buying one. I won't go anywhere without at least one. HA! They are relatively cheap. A 256 MB USB drive can be found for around $25 at Wal-mart or Sam's Club and various other places including online. Many of the "ipod" clones and the iPod Nano are really a type of flash drive. They use the same type of internal memory and feature Samsung's NAND Flash memory for storage. Once enabled in iTunes, the Nano can be plugged into any computer to show up as an external drive for copying files, pictures, and just about anything without taking too much space away from the MP3s. (GummyIII's answer)

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A Thumb Drive is a small solid-state memory device that stores information.
They usually fit on one's key ring. For Example, if one has a document on his/her work computer and has to work on it overnight at home then he can copy the document to his/her Thumb Drive, take it home, copy it to the hard drive at home, edit it, then copy it back to the Thumb Drive to take it to work the next day. It depends on one's needs as to whether or not to buy a Thumb Drive. If one has to move information as described above then it would be wise to purchase one.

http://www.thumbdrive.com

Question 2: I have to backup my files for work. Do you have any
suggestions on how I can effectively do this?

If you want to back them up permanently, you either need an external hard drive (wipable), a flash drive (wipable), or burn them on CD's. It depends on the size and number of files. Burning them on CD's that are Read-Only will keep them from being changed, but you won't be able to write over them. However, if you save them on the CD with the CD as a "data" disk, you can add more to the CD as you do more. The nice thing about the Read-only CD's is that the data IS there permanently. If you have a huge number and want to backup regularly, then you may want to invest in a backup drive. An external drive is portable and won't crash if your computer does. It can be linked up to another computer in a matter of minutes.

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One should click on http://www.canteenusa.net/backup.html for the best possibilities as to which devices can be used for backup.

Sorry, but the write-up on that link describes it best.

Question 3: I am shopping for memory. Do you have a particular place
you shop for memory upgrades?

Nope....I just bought 512 MB of memory for my daughter's Dell laptop. I "froogled" the particular memory I needed and bought it online at the cheapest place that was reputable. I found it there for half the price of many places, including Dell's site. I use Froogle and other comparison shopping sites to see what I can find. I do find tigerdirect.com to be reputable and quick. Most of the time, their prices are as cheap as anywhere else, too.

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If one knows the exact type of memory their computer requires then he/she should try to find a local supplier, not a retailer. One can find these local suppliers in the newspaper or local ads. They will usually have the best price and best warranty replacement.

However, if you want to take the chance then you can always try http://www.pricewatch.com.

If you find yourself in need of quick information, don't forget to bookmark The Canteen Computer Resource Online. Thank you to El Gran Salseron for setting it up and GummyIII for adding a lot of useful information!!

II. Cool Stuff Online

We all like cool stuff, right? If it's free and also useful, that makes it even better. So? Check out the links below.
Guess where you can find all of these links?
The Canteen Computer Resource Center Online
How cool is that?

1. If you are like StarCMC and MoJo, you will have a need for a million fonts. What if you forget what fonts you have?
Fret not!! Here's a really cool program that helps you keep track of such dramas.

FontList view installed fonts in your browser
	Font List allows you to view all your installed fonts in your web browser. You can change the predefined sample text, exclude seldom used fonts from the list and change the path for the HTML file. Us ... [more]

2. We know most of you in the Canteen are music lovers. And we know that many of you have a lot of MP3s. If you seem to misplace them all the time (ask Ma about this drama), then we've found a few software programs that you may enjoy. Guess what? They're free. Hello? Can't beat that.

Easimp3 Mp3 manager
	Easimp3 is a full featured media manager manager and MP3/Video/CD player. It offers many useful features, including fast and intelligent searching, MP3 renaming, support for lyrics and playlist and m ... [more]		NT/2000/XP	Freeware

The GodFather MP3 renamer and organizer
	The GodFather is an intelligent MP3 renamer and organizer, that helps you get rid of all those strange MP3 file names and convert them into a consistent name scheme, based on the artist, song, album ... [more]

We'll bring you more next week, but we thought we'd get you started with these. Thank you to El Gran Salseron for finding this for all of us. And to the folks at snapfiles.com for providing such useful information! WooHoo!!

Disclaimer:
Do you ever wonder why companies always put disclaimers at the bottom of their pages? And then they expect you to read the *fine print* as well? Well, this is done for a reason. It allows them to make up a bunch of unecessary rules and BS that no one will read nor thinks about reading. As a matter of fact, the disclaimers are really *Dating Ads* that those anonymous computer geeks put out to the general public. It's a way to get them a date via their disclaimers. It's risk free and also a sure way to ensure that their name will appear in the ad somewhere. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you totally understand the ideas about disclaimers. They're useless for the most part.


T E C H S M I T H	Snag-It Camtasia Studio	I use Snag-It all the time to capture screen images. But I also use the editing software that is included to add text, highlights, and more. This is a very low-cost alternative to image-capture/editing and very flexible for the price. When using it for image capture you may opt to include the pointer and other functions in the image. Camtasia Studio is extremely versatile and gives a lot of "bang for the buck". The features list is a great overview of the product. I've converted just about any type of video to other types, and made several of my own. Sound can be incorporated into the video. The first video I did using this is obviously amateur, but I did it in under an hour. I saved it in both Windows Media Player and RealPlayer formats: WMP and RealPlayer. Cost: Camtasia Studio--Free for 30 days, $299 to buy, Snag-It--Free for 30 days, $39.95 to buy, Camtasia Studio/Snag-It Combo--$319 (Discounts for educators and government)
M I C R O S O F T	ACRYLIC (part of the "Expressions" suite)	Microsoft says: Vector? Bitmap? It doesn't care. "Acrylic" (code name) is the professional design program that brings together the richness of pixel-based painting and the performance of editable vector graphics for a more fluid and flexible creative workflow. Create sophisticated designs and graphic elements for your on-screen, web, and print projects. Tours and Demos give you some idea of the functions of the program. Hey, it's free for now, so what do you have to lose? If you google this, you'll get several reviews ranging from not so good to wonderful. However, look at the date of the reviews as this is a Beta version and the last update was just a couple of weeks ago. Cost: Free for now (Beta version)
C O R E L	Paint Shop Pro X Animation Shop 3	Paint Shop Pro is MoJo's pick from last week! PC Magazine says (about Paint Shop Pro X): "Corel has kept virtually all of Paint Shop Pro's formidable power. But the interface has undergone a drastic transformation, making the program easy on the eyes and much easier to use." "It's a very good choice for enthusiasts, business users, and even pros who need image-editing muscle without the high price of Adobe Photoshop."- September 6, 2005 What a steal!! Corel says: Animation Shop has high-quality easy-to-use creative effects, features, and optimization options for Web graphic designers of every level. Whether used as a standalone application or as a complement to Paint Shop Pro, Animation Shop gives you the ability to easily create buttons, banners, and other cool animations. Cost: PSPX--Free to try for 30 days, $129 to buy, $59 to upgrade. AS3--Free to try for 30 days, $39 to buy
M A C R O M E D I A	Fireworks	This is part of the Macromedia Suite Studio 8. It can be bought as a stand-alone program, also. Macromedia says: Fireworks 8 lets you balance maximum image quality with minimum compression size as you create, edit and optimize images for the web with precise control. This is my least favorite of the programs listed here. However, it is the preferred software for my daughter (a graphic designer and web developer who is getting her Master's in Information Systems). So, if you are savvy and do a lot of that, the whole Studio 8 suite is for you. You may watch a tour/demo to see the features. Cost: Free to try for 30 days, $299 to buy, $149 to upgrade.

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